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Coconut Basboosa with Cinnamon and Rose
A simple and beautiful cake, sweet and fragrant and keeps fresh for at least 5 days due to the syrup that keeps the cake moist. A little goes a long way !
Ingredients
350g semolina90 g desiccated coconut
220 g caster sugar
75 g self-raising flour
200g thick yoghurt
200g unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch salt
Pecans to decorate
Syrup
400g sugar
250ml water
2 cinnamon sticks broken up
2 slices of orange peel
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2tbsp rose water
Pinch salt
Method
Preheat the oven to 190°C.
Mix the semolina, coconut, sugar, flour, yoghurt, melted butter and vanilla in a bowl. If the mixture seems too thick, add a little milk, but it should still be fairly stiff.
Spread the mixture with your hands into a buttered 30 cm baking tray. Score diamomds into the tray and place a pecan in the centre of each diamond. Bake for 35–40 minutes or until golden brown remove from heat then cut the diamonds back into the cake
Meanwhile, make the syrup. Place the sugar, cinnamon, orange peel and water in a saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Simmer for 10 minutes without stirring.
Remove from the heat and stir in the rose water, lemon juice and salt. Leave to cool.
Pour the syrup over the cake while the cake is still hot. Cool to serve.